Author C. S. Marshall

Excerpt: Call for reform in our nation’s education system typically shifts public and legislative focus to student achievement and teacher productivity, with reform efforts driven by the popular paradigm of tightening curricula and increasing standards of expectation and measurement in K-12 schools (Clark & Austuto, 1994). What Clark and Austuto (1994) overlooked in this paradigm is the impact that pedagogy and building effective relationships between teachers and students might have on elevating student motivation and success. Perhaps we need look beyond K-12 programs and into the classrooms of university teacher education programs to discover a better focal point for educational reform.